Baby Stores

Last night's party was a lot of fun . . . we saw quite a few people I knew from college and hadn't seen in years, as well as people we've kept in touch with like JT and her family.

I was feeling pretty miserable after my chiropractor appointment earlier in the day, but (as my mom predicted) the adrenaline kicked in once we arrived and I was able to enjoy myself anyway. I really enjoyed renewing acquaintances, hearing what people have been doing over the last 7 years, and finding out that some of us really have a lot in common. The girls had fun playing with other kids, and DH got to chat with the few people he knew and make some new acquaintances.

It was great to hear about what my cousin and his wife have been doing in China and what they have planned for the future. Very interesting and exciting stuff. They're expecting their first baby this winter, too, which is wonderful news.

Speaking of expecting babies, Baby E and I got to spend the afternoon with miraclebaby today. DH took the older girls out with him, and Baby E and I went to miraclebaby's house. We talked about cloth diapers, played with Goatee the kitten, and went shopping.

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The funniest thing was that Baby E was terrified of the kitten. She loved the little dog at the party last night, and she adores our hamster Puff. But this kitten (who is not much larger than Puff, and very cute) for some reason scared her. She kept screeching and wanting me to hold her. She'd reach out toward the kitten like she wanted to touch him, but then she'd try to push him away instead.

At one point she was starting to warm up toward him a bit, but then he jumped up on the couch next to her and caught her just slightly with his claws, and that was the end of that. I was hoping we'd get some cute photos of Baby E and Goatee together to post on the blogs, but that wasn't going to happen. Miraclebaby's husband had to hold Baby E and keep the kitten at bay while I showed her the various diapers I'd brought along.

Goatee is very cute and friendly, though, and very curious. He kept trying to climb into my diaper bag and play with the diapers.

I was able to verify that, even though I didn't think I was allergic to cats, the allergy testing was apparently accurate in that respect. I didn't have a runny nose or sinus congestion at all before I went into the house, but within minutes there it was. The longer I stayed near the cat the worse it got, along with itchy eyes and all those lovely classic allergy symptoms. I guess it's a really good thing we didn't get the cat we almost took in a few months ago.

It had been a long time since I'd gone shopping with a girlfriend, and I really had a good time with miraclebaby. We went to two different stores and ended up buying a Graco TurboBooster on sale to keep in DH's car (purportedly for M&M, but we want to keep her in the 5-point harness as much longer as we can), and a new stroller for Baby E. E is getting a bit too heavy for me to carry for long periods in the rebozo or SPOC wrap, so I decided it ws time to get a stroller for things like walks and trips to the zoo.

I put a lot of research and thought into the strollers I had when my first two kids were younger, and used them a lot, but with Baby E we've both been so happy with a sling or wrap that there hasn't been much point in having a stroller. The Evenflo stroller I'd used with the older girls had started breaking down after a year or two, so it's been long gone.

I did have a cheap umbrella stroller I used on occasion for Baby E, but it was difficult to maneuver in the first place, and then I backed over it with the van and bent it beyond use during a trip to the zoo. The other two strollers I'd picked up at garage sales were functional in a way, but both had broken parts that made them not work very well.

I'll be donating the two garage sale strollers and trashing the older umbrella stroller a friend gave me recently, which is now operating on only three wheels. After selling the tandem Aprica stroller, that will leave me with just the new stroller and my side-by-side double--down from about 8 strollers I had floating around in the garage at one time. DH will be happy to not be tripping over all those strollers in the future. :)

I've been reading reviews and researching strollers off and on for a few months, and was finally ready to make my purchase today. I'd narrowed it down to 4 or 5 options and wanted to put Baby E in the various strollers to see how she fit and how they were to push.

After trying different strollers, miraclebaby and I found the one I wanted to buy. The best combination of price, features and quality seemed to be the Italian-designed Chicco Capri--similar to the Chicco Caddy but with a solid seat and nicer canopy. I think it's a special Babies R Us version of the Chicco C5 or C6 sold in other stores, but I'm not sure.

It has a 5-point harness with padded straps, nice padding in the seat, larger all-terrain wheels, and ergonomic umbrella-style handles. The basket doesn't hold much at all, but the stroller is balanced and sturdy enough that I can hang the diaper bag and quite a bit more from the handles without causing it to tip.

It weighs only 11 lbs and folds up easily to a fairly small size, but it's large enough for my 5-year-old with room to spare. It's sturdy and seems durable. Best of all, it's designed so that it's easy to push and steer with one hand, and turns smoothly on a dime with a flick of the wrist. The recline isn't ideal--it reclines only slightly, by unzipping the sides of the seat--but I think it will be adequate.

I decided I'd rather buy a higher-quality stroller with fewer features than go for one of the plasticky poorer-quality models with more bells and whistles, or pay 2 to 3 times the amount for one of the higher-end strollers of similar or better quality. A Chicco is going to last a lot longer than a Graco or Safety-First type of stroller, and, although not quite as maneuverable and high-quality as something like a Maclaren, it's much nicer than many of the more popular brands and is quite a good stroller for the price.

It doesn't have features like the adjustable handles or ultimate one-hand recline like my beloved Kidco Double Maverick Plus (which I bought at a huge markdown when my older two girls were young). But the Chicco costs about half or a third of what I'd spend for the simplest similarly-designed umbrella stroller from Kidco/Bebecar, Inglesina or MacLaren without sacrificing too much in quality.

Now the real challenge will be to see if Baby E will be willing to settle for the stroller instead of the sling.

I'm feeling slightly better today than I've been feeling, so I'm hoping my body is starting to get used to the chiropractic adjustments and I'll be a little more functional this coming week. Yesterday I was so tempted to just go ahead and take an Advil or something for the pain, but I managed to get through without it. Baby E has been fussy the last few days and seems to be cutting a new tooth, so I'm glad I didn't make her feel worse by taking something with corn or soy in it for myself.

Baby E has been grouchy and hasn't been napping well the last few days, but she's still waking only once if at all at night as long as she doesn't eat anything allergenic. Sleep is certainly a wonderful thing.